"SENT out, was I, to turn the sod? What waste of such a day! Who would not, under blue like that, Fling the old spade away? If they but knew the ripples' plash, And loved the lark as I! How could one dig, and half the time Gaze at the luscious sky? Better to watch my dipping kite Go swaying up the cloud, Or mock the tireless thrush, or shout My own free songs aloud." So half the day he gazed, and wished The tugging kite to be, And wondered if that endless sky Was not eternity. Or, tossing snowy pebbles out Beyond the lake's gray rim, He stood to watch the ripple-ranks Come ringing back to him. Was it, I wonder, loitering there Only an idle boy? Or was it a poet, claiming so His heritage of joy? Who watched above the rounded world His fancy float and swim, Or tossed his dreams out, watching men's Brave deeds ring back to him. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BURNS by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER AN EPILOGUE TO THE STEALING OF DIONYSOS: IACHOS SPEAKING by GORDON BOTTOMLEY THE SHEPHERD'S PIPE: FOURTH ECLOGUE by WILLIAM BROWNE (1591-1643) TO A CHILD by AMELIA JOSEPHINE BURR TO THE EARL OF CLARE by GEORGE GORDON BYRON ON A PLANT OF VIRGIN'S BOWER; DESIGNED TO COVER GARDEN-SEAT by WILLIAM COWPER |